Obituary News

Synthesizer innovator Robert Moog dies at 71

Source: All About Jazz
August 22, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. - Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound, revolutionizing music in the 1960s and opening the wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71.

Moog died Sunday at his home in Asheville, N.C., according to his company's website. An inoperable brain tumour had been detected in April.

A childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, would led Moog to create a business that tied the name Moog as ...

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Synthesizer Innovator Robert A. Moog Dies

Source: All About Jazz
August 22, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound and opened the musical wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71. Moog died Sunday at his home in Asheville (NC), according to his company's Web site. He had suffered from an inoperable brain tumor, detected in April. A childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, would lead Moog to a create a career and business that tied the ...

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Joyce Wein: Wife, business partner of George Wein

Source: All About Jazz
August 17, 2005

Joyce Wein, wife and business partner of jazz impresario George Wein, died Monday, August 15, at New York Presbyterian Hospital following a battle with cancer. She was 76.

Joyce Alexander Wein was born in October 21, 1928, in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth of seven children of Columbia and Hayes Alexander. Her mother was the youngest of thirteen children, two of whom were born into slavery. Joyce attended Girls Latin School and at the age of 15, entered Simmons College, where ...

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Violinst Vassar Clements dies at 77

Source: All About Jazz
August 16, 2005

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vassar Clements, a fiddle virtuoso and A-list studio musician who played with Paul McCartney and an array of other music legends, died at his home Tuesday after battling lung cancer. He was 77.

Clements was hospitalized for 18 days earlier this year, receiving chemotherapy and other treatment. He had been under hospice care in recent weeks.

“He had no quality of life since he'd been diagnosed," said daughter Midge Cranor, who added that the cancer had spread ...

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Joyce Wein, wife of George Wein, dies at 76

Source: All About Jazz
August 16, 2005

NEW YORK (AP) — Joyce Wein, a former biochemist, a founder of the New York Coalition of 100 Black Women and a key adviser to her husband, who was a creator of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, has died. She was 76.

The wife and business partner of jazz impresario George Wein died of cancer Monday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan, family spokeswoman Sue Auclair said in a statement.

A 1948 graduate of Simmons ...

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Pianist, composer Francy Boland dies at 75

Source: All About Jazz
August 16, 2005

GENEVA - Belgian jazz pianist and composer Francy Boland died in Geneva, aged 75, a statement from the Jazz Labo society of Fribourg said.

Born in Namur on November 6, 1929, Boland began learning piano at the age of eight and studied at the Music Conservatory in Liege. He began his jazz career in 1949 and joined Chet Baker's quintet in 1955.

Moving to the United States, Boland wrote arrangements for Count Basie and Benny Goodman and formed an octet ...

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Bassist Keter Betts Dies at 77

Source: All About Jazz
August 11, 2005

BETTS, WILLIAM THOMAS “Keter" died of natural causes at his home on Saturday, August 6, 2005. The jazz great is survived by three sons, William Thomas, Jr., Jonathan and Derrick; two daughters, Jacquelyn and Jennifer; four grandchildren, his devoted companion, Roscoe Dellums, and numerous relatives and friends. Mr. Betts' wake will be held on Monday, August 15th at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, 3401 Nebraska Avenue, NW, Washington, DC from 10 o'clock AM until the funeral service commences at noon. ...

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Blues pianist Emery Williams Jr dies at 73

Source: All About Jazz
August 10, 2005

CHICAGO -- Blues pianist and songwriter Emery Williams Junior died today at his Chicago home at the age of 73.

Williams, who went by the stage name “Detroit Junior," died of heart failure early this morning at his home on the city's West Side.

Friends say Williams was a wild performer who would sometimes play the piano while lying on his back, despite having lost a leg to diabetes.

Williams was born in Haynes, Arkansas. He learned how to play ...

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